Does La Crosse County needs more eyes on future projects?

Plan committee represented by eight of largest
cities, villages and towns plus La Crescent

Maybe everyone should be involved in planning in La Crosse County. At least more municipalities.

La Crosse Area Planning Committee chair Tim Candahl said the recent lack of consensus on how to deal with future commuter travel plans in the area suggests that there should be more town representatives involved in the process.

“Everybody in La Crosse County is effected by what we do in one way or another,” Candahl said. “It would be nice to extend our hand to the other municipalities.

“Maybe get them on board and have them part of the planning. Obviously, this is a regional thing and we’re all involved in this together. The more players we got, the more ideas we got, the more discussion we can have.”

A recent lack of consensus on road building has some suggesting the committee should have more teeth to set policy. One of the recent sticking points has been whether there should be a new road into La Crosse in order to ease some current and future congestion.  

Those outside of the city like the idea. Inside city hall, they say a road will never be approved.

After 50 years, maybe it’s time for a change. 

The planning committee, involved in metro transportation planning for the area, currently consists of representatives from the eight largest cities, villages and towns in the county plus the city of La Crescent, Minn. The group doesn’t currently have authority to set policies.  

“The DOT struggles with it, the city struggles with it, the county struggles with it,” Candahl said. “The only way we can get together is collaboration – get to the table and try to come up with some solution.”

The planning committee started in 1966. It is now a group required under a 2012 law signed by president Obama.